LSU’s Upward Bound and McNair Scholars programs awarded grants
21st November 2022 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Two programs at LSU aimed at providing educational enrollment, retention and graduation opportunities to aspiring students with financial need have received more than $6 million in grants from the federal government.
LSU’s Upward Bound and McNair Scholars programs are among more than 300 such projects from across the country that fall under the aegis of the U.S. Department of Education’s TRIO effort, which is designed to provide students of financial need and educational hopefuls from other disadvantaged demographics with services that encourage and assist youth in identifying and achieving educational goals the students might otherwise not enjoy.
The Upward Bound project, which was first funded a decade ago, connects aspiring students of need with various educational and preparatory opportunities at LSU, such as Saturdays spent on the university campus in specifically tailored intervention and college preparatory classes and connections with educational mentors who help the high-school students in applying for college and find success in higher education.
High-school students are eligible for Upward Bound if they would be the first members of their family to graduate from a four-year college program.
The McNair Scholars effort funds students aspiring to a doctoral program in developing and applying for research grants that would allow the students to conduct their research under the tutelage of a mentor and to present their findings at academic conferences.
In all, Upward Bound program and the McNair Scholars Program will receive roughly $6,020,000 from the federal government to conduct and expand their efforts.
The successful attainment of the DOE grants was generated at LSU by the husband-and-wife team of Stephanie and Joseph Givens, who are both nationally recognized experts in higher-education access and equity.
Stephanie is the director of the LSU Upward Bound Project and the associate director of the Gordon A. Cain Center, while Joseph serves as director of the McNair Scholars Program. The McNair project is formally called the Ronald E. McNair Research Scholars Program.
Both Joseph and Stephanie Givens said putting together the respective grant applications was a lengthy labor of love. They said a large number of grant applicants were jostling to succeed in attaining funding.
“The competition was tough this year,” Stephanie said.
Joseph Givens said this year’s federal budget as proposed by President Biden included an increase of $200 million in appropriations for TRIO projects, meaning more educational institutions were able to receive funding. Nonetheless, he added, grant applications were required to be specific and focused, traits he said are found in the Upward Bound and McNair Scholars project.
“These were almost perfect projects [for TRIO funding], but for [TRIO] grants you need to be better than perfect,” he said.
Stephanie said the students who successfully apply for the TRIO programs are excellent, ambitious scholars who want to rise above the modest socioeconomic conditions from which they come. As a result, she said, such students are certainly worthy of the type of success Upward Bound and McNair students attain.
“Our students here deserve these funds, who deserve to go to college, and we will continue to fight to do this effort to help them,” she said.
Both Stephanie and Joseph Givens stressed how data-driven and precisely targeted their TRIO grant applications, and how they identified specific demographics for eligibility for the two LSU programs.
The LSU Upward Bound project as funded by the federal grants will be targeted to students in East Baton Rouge Parish – specifically, Tara High School and Woodlawn High School – as well as students in the coastal regions of Terrebonne Parish, particularly Ellender Memorial High School, that were devastated by Hurricane Ida, which exacerbated the steep challenges disadvantaged students from places such as Houma face. However, Stephanie Givens said she hopes that Upward Bound can be expanded into other parishes.
Stephanie said about 70 percent of students at the three targeted high schools could be eligible for Upward Bound, given the percentage of students who enroll in college immediately after high school and who qualify for free or reduced lunches.
Likewise, at least two-thirds of students in each LSU TRIO project fit the demographics targeted by the programs – those who come from low-income economic backgrounds and from families in which neither parent has a bachelor’s degree.
One of the partnerships made by the Givens duo is with the Washington, D.C.-based Council for Opportunity in Education, of which Joseph Givens serves as chairperson. The COE is a non-profit access and equity advocacy group, and COE president Maureen Hoyler emphasized how much need exists for existing and expanded TRIO programs if the goal of eliminating systemic inequality and easing the financial hardships that so often block aspiring scholars from attending and succeeding in post-secondary education.
“TRIO programs like Upward Bound and the McNair Program take on new importance because they continue to help students who are low-income and first-generation to earn college degrees,” Hoyler said in a statement.
The Givenses said their work in helping connect students with the LSU TRIO projects will continue to involve intensive outreach efforts that will bring them to the communities their programs serve.
“A lot of it is just legwork,” Stephanie said. “It’s going into schools, putting up posters and talking to people. It’s being in these communities, being in the schools and establishing new partnerships. It’s truly a grass-roots effort.”
In the end, the Upward Bound and McNair Scholars programs remain dedicated passion projects for both Givenses. That is especially true for Joseph Givens, who himself is an alumnus of Upward Bound.
“These programs are near to my heart,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here [in his position] if not for that program. This program is very dear to me.”
This article originally published in the November 21, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
